State scan: Karnataka - The rise and fall of Yeddyurappa

It was the year of the rise and fall of the regional satrap. Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa was on a high as he breezed into 2009, riding on a victory in the post-Christmas bypolls that gave him an absolute majority [115] in the 224-member house. For the first time, the BJP is independent of Independents, who, however, continue to be around for the lotus party that has helped their careers.

This year was significant for the BJP: just like it took 40 years for the children of Israel's arduous journey to the Promised Land, it took almost the same time for the BJP to be in absolute power for the first time south of Vindhyas in Karnataka. Its former avatar Jan Sangh made its political debut in 1968 in the state when it took over the municipal council of Udupi, the coastal Karnataka town also known for the famous Krishna temple.

2009 also heralded good news for the JD-S which acquired extra strength, picking three additional seats in the Vokkaliga stronghold.

This year also took dynastic politics for former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to a new level: the women in his family have entered politics. While sons H.D. Revanna and H.D. Kumaraswamy [another ex-CM] represent the party in the assembly and in Lok Sabha respectively, Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha, a computer engineer, got elected as an MLA.

The year also saw the rise of the Hindu fundamentalist brigade Sri Rama Sene which gave the BJP a bad name by attacking pubs in Mangalore, the region that gave us Miss World Aishwarya Rai, gangster-demolishing cop Daya Nayak and Man Booker prize winner Aravind Adiga. The attack -- on young women at a pub called Amnesia -- by the self-styled army of Rama won't be easily forgotten in the state known for tolerance and progressiveness.

Sene's culture cops had something in common with fundamentalist Islamic groups notorious for issuing diktats against noodle straps, tight jeans and women pubbing. The Bangalore police trampled night life and pubbing in the name of security.

Most former CMs of the state sweated it out in the April heat to enter the House of the People but only a few made it. Serial party hopper Sarekoppa Bangarappa had to bite the dust. He lost to 36-year-old novice B.Y. Raghavendra, son of Yeddyurappa. Other ex-CMs like Kumaraswamy and M. Veerappa Moily [now union law and justice minister] sailed home in Bangalore Rural and Chikkaballapur respectively.

Another former CM, the 77-year-old tennis playing S.M. Krishna, got the biggest boost of his political career when his mentor Sonia Gandhi made him India's foreign minister.

Moily, the 69-year-old former Supreme Court lawyer, also showed his literary side by authoring a five-volume 43,000 line epic poem on Ramayana.

But as 2009 draws to a close, Yeddyurappa, the 67-year-old former rice mill clerk, is learning the hard way that being CM is tough. After 19 months in power, he has survived attempts to unseat him.

Yeddyurappa's political detractors were led by the Gali Reddy brothers -- mining lords of Bellary who helped prop him to power in May 2008 by enlisting the support of the Independents when BJP was three seats short. Once a powerful regional satrap, Yeddyurappa will enjoy a subdued Christmas and a new year this time.

Even his September attempt of leading his ministers to the serene 1,000-year-old Hindu mutt on the banks of Kapila [as mentioned in the Puranas] -- near Mysore, about 140 km from the state capital Bangalore -- for a three day "manthana" brainstorming session has not helped much.

The six-time legislator is barely survived after succumbing to rebel pressure tactics even as the JD-S and the Congress are waiting for opportunities to exploit their way to power.

Yes, in 2009, the two former foes formed a pact to be shoehorned into the seat of power if the Yeddyurappa government crumbles.

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